Palmpaw's story
by ShadowsInTheCorner
Summary: It's Palmpaw's first gathering. She and her 'mother' Leopardstar talk about her past. StarClan chooses her for a strange prophecy. What happens to Palmpaw? *Incomplete, not planning on updating.*
1. Her first gathering

I sit in the clearing, trying to stay still… but it's hard, I am going to be announced as an apprentice today!! As the leaders climb the Great Tree and yowl for silence I watch carefully, not wanting to miss anything on my first gathering. Firestar, a firey-red tom, and the leader of Thunderclan stands first. As he tells how his clan is doing I think about his past… a kittypet who was called to the wild… into the 'old territory' as the elders call it. As I think about his struggles I feel sorry for him. I know what its like to be an outsider. As Blackstar, the Shadowclan leader sits I look up excitedly, it was Leopardstar's turn to talk and the first thing she would announce would be, me. Her only kit. I wasn't really hers but that's what she told the clans; and only Mistyfoot and I knew that. Not only was that what she told the clans, that was what I believe. She has _inever/i_ treated me like the outsider I am. "Leopardstar," I look up and see Onestar nod his head, telling her that she could go before him. "I am very proud to say that my kit is now an apprentice, Palmpaw, please stand up." As I stand some of the clan cats start murmuring, they had never believed that she had had a kit, and now that they could see me they were _ialmost/i_ sure that I wasn't.

Later that night, while we were heading back to camp Leopardstar dropped to the back and motioned me to follow her as she started walking away from the group. "Palmpaw, did you see how the clans reacted tonight?" I knew exactly what she was talking about by how serious she was. "Yes," I replied calmly, I didn't want to look weak in front of my leader, let alone my mother. "We both know who your real mother was and why I adopted you right?" At that I just nodded, not only did I know who my mother was; I also knew who my littermates were and where they were right now. "Do you also know what might happen if the rest of the clans find out about it?"

"Leopardstar, I'm sorry but if I cause so much trouble, why don't I just leave the clan? Its hard enough to pretend I fit in!" As she turns around to look at me she sees the fear in my eyes and wrapped her tail around my shoulders. "Palmpaw, calm down… I didn't save you for nothing did I?"

"No Leopardstar, you didn't but--" She lays her tail over my mouth and gently turns me around so I can look into her eyes. "But what Palmpaw?"

"But why did you save _ime/i_ why not my sister? Or, why not both of us?"

"What I did wasn't exactly my choice; I did it because Starclan wanted me to."

I gaze at her in wonder, I knew she was loyal to Starclan, but not _ithat/i_ loyal. It must take a lot of courage to go against your beliefs and against your clan, even if someone you were loyal to was telling you to, to adopt a kittypet's kit. And not only adopt it, lie to your whole clan, your family, friends, all of them, about it. Claim that it was your own and then face the shame by yourself if it decided to live life as a kittypet.

That's when it finally struck me. I wasn't alone in this lie; Leopardstar was the one protecting me from harm, like a real mother. She isn't my adopted mother now, she is my _ireal/i_ mother.


	2. Bluestar?

When I woke up the next morning I stretched then went outside of the apprentices' den and realized that it was after dawn. As I rushed over to the warrior's den to see if Mistyfoot has left yet I heard my name being called from Leopardstar's den. As I ran over there I could hear the other apprentices murmuring, they had never understood why I was always so _willing_ to go to Leopardstar's den when called, even when they knew she was my mother. "Yes Leopardstar?" Mistyfoot looked up as I say this. "Oh, good, you seem to be aware that I let you sleep in..." she trailed off trying not to smile, "Yes Mistyfoot, after last night, with the gathering and then the walk I was very tired.." I said, trying not to yawn. "That's okay Palmpaw, but your training still has to go on today. Would you mind if I had Reedwhisker take you out with Ripplepaw for training today?" Mistyfoot asked gently.

"Sure," I said, heading out towards where Reedwhisker is eating while Mistyfoot followed to ask him if I could go with them. "Reedwhisker, do you mind taking Palmpaw out for battle training today?" Mistyfoot asked calmly. Reedwhisker gave me and odd glance but quickly looks back at Mistyfoot while Ripplepaw jumped up saying, "That would be so fun!" He glanced at his mentor and when he saw his expression he sat down, fast. It was quite obvious that he doesn't like me, and I had a good idea on why.

"_Palmpaw? Palmpaw, please wake up." I opened my eyes and saw that I was no longer in the apprentice den, but in a clearing so beautiful that it surely wasn't in our forest. I could hear the prey scurrying around in the bushes, the smell of unknown herbs tickling my nose. Trying not to sneeze I looked up and saw the cat whose voice it was that woke me. She was beautiful; her sleek, blue-grey pelt shining and her piercing blue eyes glowing in the moonlight. When the thought hit me I couldn't stop myself from saying it out loud, "You're Bluestar." She let out a Mrrow of laughter and gazed down at me, wrapping her tail daintily around her paws. "Yes young one, I am."_

_I just stare at her, then a thought hits me, "Aren't StarClan cats only supposed to talk with cats from their own clan? And, why talk to me? I mean, why not Leopardstar, Mistyfoot or either of the medicine cats?"_

_Bluestar smiled down at me and asked, "Do you know what tonight is?" I think about it a little then reply, "Yeah, it's the half-moon…. Oh." She just smiled, knowing I would ask more questions, "But then why don't you go talk to one of them? I mean, whatever it is its probably too important to be telling an apprentice!"_

_Bluestar just stood up and started walking into the forest, "Follow me, young one." I did as she said, weaving through the trees, trying to keep my eyes trained on the tip of her tail, but it was just so beautiful… "Palmpaw, please stay on the trail." I jump when I realize that shes right behind me, trying to turn me back to the trail. "S-sorry Bluestar, it won't happen again..."_

_She just shook her head and led me back to the trail. "Its okay to be curious Palmpaw, just I think you should wait a little while before discovering the secrets that are hidden throughout this forest." Then she muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like, "And the fact that I wasn't supposed to talk to you yet might get us both into trouble."_

_After walking a while we came to a stop in front of another clearing. Bluestar motioned to be quiet then led me to the very edge of the clearing, staying hidden in the ferns. "Stay quiet and listen," she said, backing up and turning to leave. "I need to go talk to Leafpool but I'll be right back." I just nod and turn back to Barkface and... Was that Tallstar?_

"_I don't think Onestar would want a cat, let alone an apprentice, from another clan in our territory or associating with other cats!"_

"_Barkface, you need to understand how important this is for the clan!"_

"_Won't they be able to tell which clan they come from though?!"_

"_She is special, different than all the others Barkface. No one who does not need to know, won't know. As far as they know she could be a StarClan warrior coming to make sure Onestar is running his clan right. They won't suspect a thing."_

_I jumped as Bluestar tapped my shoulder with her tail then beckoned for me to follow her. Once we were pretty far away from the clearing I asked, "Why did you want me to listen to that?"_

_Bluestar kept her eyes ahead of her, ignoring the glances I gave her. "Because, the cat they were talking about is you, Palmpaw."_

_I stare at her for a bit then she starts to fade. "Bluestar!" I shout, but she just calmly shakes her head and say, "Its okay, its time for you to go now, but you __**cannot **__tell anyone that you saw me or anyone from StarClan, okay?" I just nod and slip back asleep._

"Palmpaw!" I moaned as Beechpaw shoved a paw in my side, "Palmpaw, Mistyfoot's looking for you!" At that I sat straight up, knocking my head into his. "Oww.." I muttered and quickly left the den. As soon as I was out of the den I spotted Mistyfoot next to the fresh-kill pile. When I got over there I asked her if we were going out for training. "Sorry Palmpaw, but we need to talk to Mothwing about something first, okay?" "Fine with me!" I said, I love going to see Mothwing when I'm not sick or injured. When we got there I noticed that Mothwing's apprentice, Willowpaw, wasn't there. "Willowpaw? Is that you?" When she looked up and saw us she quickly said, "Oh, sorry Mistyfoot. I'm waiting for Willowpaw to come back with some poppy seeds… I sent her out a while ago, do you think she's okay? The poppy seeds are extremely close to ShadowClan border." I walked up and put my nose to her ear tip, "I'm sure she's fine, she's an extremely strong fighter for a medicine cat." She glanced uncertainly at me, "Are you sure?" I purred with laughter, "Yeah, she's even beaten me a couple of times!" At that her eyes glowed with pride. After that Mistyfoot stepped forward and said, "Have there been any messages from StarClan lately? Leapardstar is getting nervous for some reason…" As she said that Willowpaw walked in and answered for her mentor, "No, but last night there was something mentioned about a 'chosen cat' in this clan…" Mistyfoot's eyes widened and she glanced at me. "Okay, its time to get to your training Palmpaw," She said briskly, almost pushing me out of the den.


End file.
